


Next Time

by damedechance



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Enemies, F/M, Slow Build, enemies au, enemies!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-07-18 07:43:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7305760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damedechance/pseuds/damedechance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the two, most powerful miraculous holders met for the first time, everything went as expected. That is, until one of them messed everything up royally and they hated each other ever since. But when Hawkmoth's plans and attempts at capturing the final half of the coveted miraculous duo begin to escalate, these two sworn enemies may just have a change of heart...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Next Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work inspired by the Enemies!au on tumblr. There will be sin. I didn't come up with this au.

The first time that Adrien confronted his father was actually the second time. At least, Adrien thought of it that way. If one were to ask Gabriel Agreste, the man would say that Adrien had always been a perfectly obedient child—manageable if not sometimes melodramatic. Nevertheless, Adrien was definitely sure that this time he had effectively put his foot down.

“Adrien, please don’t step there,” Gabriel muttered absently from his desk. “I left some fabric lying around and I’d rather you not soil it with your street clothes.”

“Oh! Je m’excuse, Père,” Adrien replied out of knee-jerk reaction and immediately lifted his knee to inspect the floor around him. Sure enough, there was a very white and very expensive looking fabric just in front of him. Shaking his head, Adrien reminded himself of his purpose for entering his father’s office in the first place. The next time he spoke, Adrien took on a slightly more steely tone. “I mean, uh, there’s something we need to talk about, Father.”

With a peak in his brow, Gabriel turned around in his office chair to finally look at Adrien. He leaned back and surveyed the boy for a moment before nodding. Adrien took this as an indication to continue.

“I just…” Adrien took a deep breath and straightened his posture. “Father, why did you send two akumas in one week?”

Abruptly, Gabriel’s mildly interested expression faded into one of measured no-longer-give-a-shitness. “Is that all, Adrien?”

“What?” Adrien mumbled. “No! No, that’s not it. Usually you send akumas very rarely and… and sometimes not even one a week. Why would you send two?”

It seemed to Gabriel that his son wouldn’t drop the issue very simply, so he took great care to stand up from his desk chair and walk around to the other side. Gingerly, Gabriel perched himself on the edge of his desk and surveyed Adrien. The boy was standing as straight as a rod with a very noticeable quiver in his lip. It was obvious that Adrien was a stranger to the game of questioning his father, and Gabriel didn’t have enough patience to give him a lesson.

“Listen closely, Adrien,” Gabriel said in monotone. “With the increasing availability of vulnerable emotions in Parisians, it is nearly impossible to refuse to take advantage. If I am able to create a worthy akuma, and Ladybug still has her miraculous, do you expect me to sit with idle hands?”

“No,” Adrien sighed.

“Unfortunately, Ladybug has proven in the last six months that she can handle the occasional akuma all by herself. Do you expect me to allow her to keep this level of security? Or do you want us to have the upperhand?” Gabriel pushed off of his desk and stalked towards Adrien. By the end of his speech, Gabriel himself was almost in danger of stepping on the white fabric.

“No, Father.” Adrien repeated.

“Then I suggest you try to remember that it will do you well not to question my decisions. Just continue doing as you have been told, and all should be fine,” Gabriel said. “We will have Ladybug’s miraculous in no time.”

If a body could stutter, Adrien’s would have as he nodded and turned tail to exit his father’s office. Before he could shut the door behind him, Adrien heard the unmistakable, eerie reminder from his father to go on watch tonight. The door clicked into place without an answer from Adrien, but he figured that the echo of the door would be answer enough.

Hurriedly, Adrien made his way to his room and plopped his entire body weight onto his bed. A small black blur quickly wriggled itself out from underneath Adrien’s slack form and hovered in place above his head. Adrien looked up at the blur with sad eyes and opened his mouth as if to say something, but something in the tiny black thing’s eyes halted the words. Adrien couldn’t tell if it was disappointment, pity, or something else. Whichever way, he decided he didn’t like it and tightly shut his eyes.

“Adrien,” the black thing chided. “Maybe if you’re feeling this bad, you should reconsider my suggestion.”

Adrien groaned into his pillow.

“C’mon, you rich brat,” it groaned back.

“Plagg,” Adrien whined.

“Well forgive me for being observant!” Plagg hissed. “I’ve only noticed you cursing the world for the past six months because you’re feeling so guilty.”

Adrien sprang up from his sulking position to glare at his kwami. “I am not feeling guilty!”

“Sure, rich kid.” Plagg folded his arms. “That’s why you blubbered and huffed at Daddy dearest just now. You’re not feeling guilty at all. That’s why you questioned your father’s lack of restraint.”

“Nooroo doesn’t talk like this,” Adrien said as his expression took an acidic tone. 

“You don’t know Nooroo like I do,” Plagg insisted. “And either way, I happen to know that Nooroo doesn’t have any balls.”

Adrien snorted. “And how do you know this, Plagg?”

“You know, Adrien, if you’re just gonna make fun of the situation, I’m going to go take a nap,” Plagg said over his shoulder as he hovered over to the small cat bed on Adrien’s desk. Before he got too far, Adrien plucked his kwami’s tail out of the air and swung him around so that they could be eye-to-eye.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Adrien grinned. “We have a little fly to go swat.”

“Seriously?” Plagg squawked. “You’re still gonna do as your father tells you? Even after what happened in his office?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t enjoy it,” Adrien pouted. 

“I don’t enjoy seeing you get your ass kicked, no,” Plagg explained. “And I’m definitely going to have to speak to Nooroo about your self-destructive tendencies. In fact, why don’t I go see if he has a free—”

“Plagg,” Adrien interrupted has his jumped up and leapt to the middle of his room. The boy had let go of the tiny kwami’s tail, and Plagg was now batted into the air with a swing of Adrien’s hand. “Transform me!”

“You’re gonna regret this!” Plagg yelled as his tiny body was sucked into the ring on Adrien’s finger, turning it black. A bright green light enveloped Adrien from head to toe and was swiftly followed by the black, skintight suit of Chat Noir. The boy took a brief moment to admire his transformation before bounding across his bedroom and leaping out of the window. He gave a whoop and a holler as he jumped from his lawn and up onto the interconnecting rooftops of Paris. His boots slapped against the shingles and cement with an almost comforting rhythm. Chat Noir let a smirk flutter onto his lips as he pressed on in his pursuit of the open air. However, the moment was short-lived as Chat spotted a streak of red on a rooftop that was only a few blocks down from where he stood. Recognizing this blur as the responsibility that his father had bestowed him with six months ago, Chat stretched his legs even further to increase the pace. Within seconds, Chat had reached the same rooftop that he spotted the red blur—no pun intended—darting across in the first place. However, it seemed that she must have made her exit because there was no pesky bug to be found…

“Oh my, look at what the cat dragged in,” sounded a voice from somewhere behind Chat. His muscles coiled and he spun around to face the very haughty figure of Ladybug, Superheroine of Paris. The girl was grinning wildly, seemingly amused at her pun, and her hand was clawed around her hip. It looked as if she thought she was in absolute control of the situation, but Chat Noir noticed tiredness around her eyes that caused a pang to go through his gut. With a quick shake that rolled down his spine, Chat dismissed the odd feeling and faced his foe with his baton at the ready.

“It seems that I forgot to call the exterminator,” Chat mocked. “Looks like I’ll have to do all the work myself.”

“Don’t worry,” Ladybug crooned. “You must be used to it by now, Stray.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Chat Noir huffed as he languidly approached the girl in front of him. He began to twirl his baton in between his fingers as his lips split into a wide grin. “Is this your way of saying you’d like some more alone time with me?”

“What? Ew, no.” Ladybug scoffed. “What I mean is that Hawkmoth likes to send you to do all the dirty work while he sits pretty in his evil lair. What does it feel like to be a lonely little minion?”

Chat stopped in his tracks about a meter away from Ladybug. “I’m not sure. What does it feel like to constantly watch your own back? It’s truly sad, Ladybug. I may be a sidekick, but you don’t have a partner at all.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Ladybug ground out between her teeth.

Within the span of a single heartbeat, the two miraculous-wielders leapt at each other, a yo-yo and a baton clashing in ways that they were never meant to be used. Ladybug began to press towards Chat, advancing on him at a rapid rate that had the black cat frantically trying to look both behind and in front of him so that he didn’t step off of the building or get whacked in the head by a yo-yo. Ladybug’s stern face melted away into a soft smile as she noted that Chat was now only a few inches away from the edge of the building. He had lost all of the ground that he had gained earlier when he stalked towards Ladybug. Now, it was just a matter of when he would either fall or flee.

“Come on, Kitty,” Ladybug goaded. “Let’s see if you land on your feet!”

With one last ounce of ferocity and vigor, Ladybug whipped her yo-yo back behind her head. Chat was currently preoccupied with trying to thrust his baton at her center while also digging his heels into the roof tiles. Ladybug took her moment to sidestep the staff and fling her yo-yo back in front of her with such a speed that even she didn’t see it. The red disc collided with Chat Noir’s ankles and wrapped around them tightly enough that his legs wound together. Predictably, Chat lost his footing and fell backwards off of the building. He dangled only by the thread of Ladybug’s yo-yo until he was dropped the last few feet and made contact with the side-walk. Ladybug quickly advanced, dropping down after the cat with much more grace. She had just retracted her yo-yo and placed it on her hip when Chat Noir began to laugh.

“After all these months, and your little bug brain still doesn’t understand,” Chat Noir tormented. “It’s never gonna be that easy.”

Ladybug was just about to reach for her yo-yo again when Chat Noir’s leg swept out and knocked her off of her feet. He had used so much force that she skidded along the sidewalk before struggling to get onto her hands and knees. Chat Noir wasted no time in pushing himself off of the ground, retrieving his staff, and rushing at his prey. Ladybug caught his approaching form from the corner of her wide eyes and leapt up to flee towards the Seine. Her foe was in hot pursuit, using his staff to vault over buildings and closer towards her. Similarly, Ladybug used her yo-yo to swing from lampposts and try to get to the river as soon as possible. She had never planned to run away from Chat, but maybe if she could reach the water, then she would have the upper hand once again.

Until the reflection of the city’s lights in the Seine could be seen, Ladybug never once looked back to see how close her pursuer was. However, judging by the sound of his footsteps and the feel of his hot breath on her neck, the superheroine wasn’t surprised in the slightest to glance over her shoulder and find that Chat’s claws were mere inches from grabbing her shoulder and turning her around to land a punch in the middle of her face. Ladybug decided to enact her plan immediately before her enemy could make a plan of his own.

Flawlessly, Ladybug transferred from running to flying as she hooked her yo-yo on a protrusion from the building just ahead of them. The hero let the string retract quickly before she could get as high as possible and perform a flip. Instead of landing, Ladybug used her momentum to stick her legs out in front of her and kick Chat Noir in the back just as he realized that his prey was no longer in front of him. When Ladybug’s feet made contact with Chat’s back, the boy was thrown into the air and eventually pulled back down by gravity just a few feet in front of the Seine. The boy rolled a little to try to lessen the impact, but he was still left face up with a gut-wrenching pain in his limbs.

“What was that about this not being easy?” Ladybug hummed as her head popped into Chat’s line of vision.

Chat’s only response was a groan.

“Because,” Ladybug began. “I think you’re a little bit off your game today, Housecat.”

Ladybug dropped down and shoved her left knee into Chat Noir’s chest as her other knee burrowed into his side. Chat let out a strangled grunt, but Ladybug paid no mind. She simply wrapped the string of her yo-yo around his left fist and forcefully entwined her fingers with the ones on his free hand.

“Look at that,” Ladybug said. “I think I have you pinned.”

Chat tried to wriggle out from underneath Ladybug, but her grip was firm and she was deceptively heavy for such a petite girl. Besides, the hero had his right hand in her grasp, and she was staring at the ring that adorned it with the kind of look that a man stranded in the desert might give to a glass of water. To Chat, it seemed that it was all over. And to think, the poor guy had been going easy on her after feeling so guilty over the second akuma being unleashed that week.

“What are you waiting for, Ladybug?” Chat Noir seethed. “You have me. Take your prize.”

“I hope you aren’t referring to yourself,” Ladybug grimaced. “But as tempting as that might be, I think I’d rather win with dignity.”

_Okay,_ Chat thought to himself. _Now she’s definitely toying with me._

But when had she ever really stopped?

Before Chat could protest, Ladybug had tightened her grip with her yo-yo and drew the same hand that was holding the string to poke and caress Chat Noir’s miraculous. She looked mystified, and surely she had to know that if she took his miraculous, she would put an end to the constant antagonizing. She would rid Hawkmoth of his one advantage. She could return the miraculous to its rightful owner. And, most importantly, she would never have to deal with Chat Noir ever again. After six months, six long months of weekly akumas followed by even more frequent sightings of her one, true enemy, Ladybug would be free to deal with Hawkmoth and his akumas directly. No longer would she be dragged out every other night after another sighting of Paris’s menace. No longer would she have to prolong an akuma fight because Chat Noir just happened to show up right after she thought she had saved the day. No more Chat Noir.

Ladybug pursed her lips.

“You know, Stray, I’m very tired,” Ladybug commented.

“No shit,” Chat scoffed. “You look like something stuck to the bottom of my shoe.”

Ladybug’s knee dug deeper into his chest and she let out a soft sound of satisfaction when she noticed that his face screwed up in pain. “As I was saying, I’m very tired of all of these akuma attacks. And of you being present whenever I’m suited up. It’s irritating. No matter how much I fight, the akumas always get stronger. You always get more unbearable. And now, akumas are even more frequent.”

Chat’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything. He was honestly just shocked, wondering why she didn’t simply grab his miraculous and leave. It would be easy.

“You were there, of course, Stray,” Ladybug continued. “But maybe you didn’t notice… today’s akuma really did a number on me. If it wasn’t for my powers, I might be in the hospital right now. But… it seems like neither you nor your boss care.”

An empty feeling settled in Chat’s gut.

“Both of you, miraculous wielders, and neither of you have any mercy,” Ladybug chastised. Chat thought he saw moisture in her eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. “And so… I don’t think I’m going to make this easy on either of you.”

Abruptly, Ladybug dropped both of his hands and leapt away. Startled by her sudden retreat, Chat scrambled to his feet and stared down his foe with a hand on his baton. Ladybug looked back at him, seemingly unbothered. It sent a chill down his spine just how similar she looked to his father.

“From this point on, I won’t show any restraint,” Ladybug said grimly. “You don’t deserve it.”

In a flash, Ladybug was gone and Chat was left alone in the middle of Paris. Tears began to stream down his face, source unknown, as all traces of guilt or remorse left the pit of his stomach and the memories of that day rushed back at him in full force. Chat fell to his knees with the sheer power of the day’s emotions and yowled into the air.

Not too far away, a petite girl collapsed onto her bed and cried tears into her pillow that no one, not even her red kwami, could see.

You don’t deserve it.


End file.
